Onlookers bid a fond farewell to Stephenson's Rocket on Thursday morning as the iconic steam engine - a prime attraction of the Great Exhibition of the North - left its home city.

The Rocket, a speed record-breaker in its day, this time made slow progress as it was inched on a trailer through the doors of Discovery Museum where it has been on display during the exhibition's 80-day run, attracting a whopping 176,000 visitors.

And the gathered spectators and museum staff, who had welcomed it back to the city where it was designed by Robert Stephenson almost 190 years ago, were clearly sorry to see it go as, under wraps to protect it on its journey south, it made it way towards a waiting truck.

The Rocket, built at the Stephenson Works in Newcastle , was considered groundbreaking in1829 when it proved the fastest locomotive on track during the famous Rainhill speed trials.

Having been housed in The Science Museum in London since 1862, it received a warm welcome on its return to Tyneside as a showpiece exhibit of the Great Exhibition which ended on the day of the Great North Run .

Carolyn Ball, Discovery Museum and archives manager, said how pleased she had been to see the amount of time its visitors had spent simply looking at the Rocket.

"It's been hugely popular," she said during preparations for its removal. "We've had 176,000 through the museum between June 22 and September 9 and I think it's been one of the star attractions of Great Exhibition of the North.

"People have loved seeing Rocket here in Newcastle. I think those 176,000 people are sad to see it go and I'm quite sad as well."

A huge amount of work had gone into securing its loan from its London home; not least the building of a reinforced display platform to take its 5.5 ton weight and the installing of as big a set of doors as would fit into the museum entrance to allow the hefty engine access.

Even so, there was very little clearance either side of the Rocket as it passed through the doors and navigating its arrival has been a lengthy and painstaking process.

The Rocket leaves Discovery Museum (Image: Barbara Hodgson)

Its passage out was that process in reverse and it involved the removal first of the Rocket's chimney which took place on Tuesday, so that it could be boxed up separately for safety.

The experts then spent a long day on Wednesday moving the loco from its plinth and onto the trailer, after being wrapped up in special conservation-quality plastic.

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Overseeing the work, Louisa Burden, head of conservation and collections at the Science Museum Group, said: "It's about eight days' work to take Rocket out of Discovery Museum.

"It's quite a lengthy process moving Rocket: there was lots of preparation last week and this week."

And dealing with the chimney is always "tricky", she added.

The final stage of the Rocket's removal from Discovery Museum (Image: Barbara Hodgson)

On Thursday at 8am they began the process of moving the engine outside, with the help of a tractor which acted as a buffer and a guide as it was moved down a slope to the main museum entrance where a crane was in place to lift it at an angle onto an open truck.

Once installed, the truck sides and roof were closed around it and it was ready for its journey south, with a team of experts accompanying it to oversee its arrival in Manchester where it is to go on show at The Museum of Science and Industry until April.

It's another fitting venue for the engine as its Rainhill trails success secured it a contract for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and Carolyn said of its return journey to the city: "It's 139 years almost to the day since it went down to North West for the first time.

"I'm sure that it's going to have the big response there that it's had here."

After being on display in Manchester, the Rocket will be taking up a new permanent home in The National Railway Museum in York, which is also part of The Science Museum Group.